ALLENDALE, Mich. - Concordia-St. Paul (9-6, 6-4 GLIAC) used an early rally and a strong defensive effort to keep host #22 Grand Valley State (13-1, 10-1 GLIAC) within reach before ultimately falling 17-4 on a windy Friday night at GVSU Lacrosse Stadium.

Concordia heads to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a Sunday morning game at Davenport (8-7, 5-5 GLIAC) at 9 a.m. Concordia holds a one game lead over the Panthers for the fourth seed and the right to host a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal game, and the two teams have clinched either the fourth or fifth seed and will meet again in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday, April 30 at a location to be determined following Sunday's game. A win for Concordia secures home field, while a loss will put the teams in a tie to be broken by league criteria.

The host Lakers scored the first three goals of the game in the opening three and a half minutes of play. But the Golden Bears held firm on their strategy, scoring the next two goals by Sara McNicoll and Alina Boyce before a scoreless stretch of seven minutes kept the margin close throughout a majority of the first half.

Although the Lakers would net two goals in a row for a 5-2 lead with 9:46 to play in the half, McNicoll added her second goal to keep the margin close, 5-3 with under eight minutes to go. The score remained a two goal margin until GVSU finished the first half with three straight goals in the final 5:28. It was the start of an 11-0 run to blow the game open to a 16-3 margin with 6:01 to go in the contest.

McNicoll is third on the team with 35 points in her freshman season, putting in 18 goals and a team-high 17 assists.

Following the Lakers' three goals at the end of the first half, the key stretch for the Lakers' run was how they opened the second half, turning an 8-3 margin into a 13-3 lead with five goals in the first 6:43, opening the second half similar to how they opened the first (3 goals in 3:37).

Senior Izzy Snow capped CSP's scoring with a goal at 3:41. The final score was identical to the teams' first meeting in St. Paul to open GLIAC play in the Concordia Dome in March.

With six ground balls in the game, junior Katie Lottsfeldt became the first player in school history to reach 200 for her career, also adding a pair of caused turnovers and 12 saves in the contest. The 12 saves push over the 100 mark (108) for the third year in a row.

Junior Kailey Heinl added two draw controls to become the first to 100 career draw controls, she also added a caused turnover for CSP and holds the program's career record both categories.

With a goal and an assist, Boyce tied Maddie Hentges' single season record of 60 points set last year as a sophomore, and also broke a three way program record for goals in a season with her 44th, one more than Hentges' 2019 total and surpassing Heinl's freshman year record in 2017.

Sophomore Lexi Stanley continues her standout defensive campaign with five draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers. She also assisted on Snow's goal in the second half.

The Lakers were led by Carly Shisler's nine point performance on seven goals and two assists, adding four draw controls, four caused turnovers and three ground balls. Peyton Neil saved six shots and allowed three goals to secure the win in goal as GVSU had three goals split the 60 minutes led by Neil's 36:03.